AI Sec Watch: A Security Intelligence Platform for AI Systems

Luu, T.J.

CVE-2024-48919: Cursor is a code editor built for programming with AI. Prior to Sep 27, 2024, if a user generated a terminal command via

highvulnerabilityLLM-Specific

security

Source: NVD/CVE DatabaseOctober 22, 2024CVE-2024-48919

Summary

Cursor is a code editor that uses AI to help with programming. Before September 27, 2024, attackers could trick Cursor's command generation feature into running harmful commands if a user imported a malicious website into the prompt and the attacker used prompt injection (hidden instructions in text that manipulate AI behavior) on that website. A server-side patch was released quickly to block dangerous characters, and Cursor version 0.42 added client-side protections and a new preview box setting that requires manual approval before commands run.

Solution / Mitigation

A server-side patch released on September 27, 2024 prevents newlines or control characters from being streamed back. Cursor 0.42 includes client-side mitigations that block newlines or control characters from entering the terminal directly. Users can enable the setting `"cursor.terminal.usePreviewBox"` and set it to `true` to stream responses into a preview box that must be manually accepted before inserting into the terminal. The patch is applied server-side, so no additional action is needed on older versions. Additionally, Cursor's maintainers recommend only including trusted context in prompts as a best practice.